{"id":5728,"date":"2015-09-02T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=5728"},"modified":"2015-08-31T23:13:12","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T04:13:12","slug":"who-is-more-compelling-lbj-or-jesus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=5728","title":{"rendered":"WHO IS MORE COMPELLING: LBJ OR JESUS?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to writing history, Robert Caro is a giant among men.\u00a0 This past year, Caro released the fourth installment of his projected five-volume biography of the 36th<\/sup> president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson. Caro has devoted nearly 40 years researching and writing The Years of Lyndon Johnson<\/i>, and he does not appear to be letting up anytime soon.\u00a0 Caro\u2019s life ambition crystallized in his mid-thirties \u2013 to write the definitive biography of LBJ, a biography that would truly stand the test of time.\u00a0 This goal has propelled Caro vocationally throughout the lion\u2019s share of his life and now sustains him into his sunset years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Caro\u2019s The Years of Lyndon Johnson<\/i> has served to percolate increased interest in the 36th<\/sup> president and to position its author as an internationally recognized biographer.\u00a0 Yet, as interesting as Caro\u2019s ever expanding biography of Johnson is, a public intrigue with Caro himself has also piqued.\u00a0 Indeed, Caro is a fascinating figure; we might even say a cultural icon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Caro is eccentrically devoted to his life\u2019s work. His lifestyle and work ethic resemble a 21st<\/sup> century sweatshop, albeit civilized.\u00a0 For decades he has slavishly worked seven days a week, rarely breaking his routine even for holidays.\u00a0 He enjoys no professional help, no research assistant or transcriptionist.\u00a0 Caro foregoes modern conveniences such as a personal computer, preferring to draft his manuscript in longhand.\u00a0 He dresses in a suit every day, only to work in solitude in his Manhattan office.\u00a0 Caro\u2019s office is a Byzantine gamut, littered with copious notes, stacked files, marked books, and walls covered with charts and graphs.\u00a0 Eyewitnesses testify that Caro\u2019s work environment more resembles a war room than a writing den.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Caro\u2019s life-long effort to unearth Johnson\u2019s life in pedantic detail is impressive enough, but not altogether satisfying for the accomplished author.\u00a0 Rather, Caro aspires to know the mind and heart of Johnson; not merely Johnson\u2019s actions, but what propelled his actions.\u00a0 Thus, Caro has coupled with his assiduous research a practice of imbibing Johnson\u2019s way of life.\u00a0 Over the years, Caro has relocated his family in order to spend extensive time in Texas, Washington and even Vietnam.\u00a0 All of this has been in an effort to feel what Johnson felt, see what he saw, and know what he knew. Herein lies Caro\u2019s genius.\u00a0 He is driven by a desire not merely to master the facts of Johnson\u2019s life, but to know the very essence of the man.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As followers of Christ, perhaps we can learn something about discipleship from Robert Caro.\u00a0 When we weigh Caro\u2019s devotion to Johnson in the scales of our pursuit of Christ, we may be found wanting.\u00a0 Caro has settled for nothing less than a deep and personal knowledge of his subject, LBJ.\u00a0 Too many Christians settle for a superficial knowledge of Christ that fosters a superficial commitment to Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But, we need not look to Caro to be chastened. We can simply look to the Apostle Paul, who aspired to know Jesus, writing, \u201cI count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord\u2026 that I may know him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death\u201d (Phil 3:8,10).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our eccentric commitment may never be classified alongside Robert Caro\u2019s in the world\u2019s eyes, but knowing Jesus \u2013 and laboring to make him known \u2013 will prove unmatched in personal benefit and eternal consequence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

HT: www.jasonkallen.com, April 5, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Repost<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Allen\u2019s post carries the title, \u201cRobert Caro & the Pursuit of Knowing Christ.\u201d<\/strong><\/div>\n
I changed the title to make sure more would read his terrific piece and not lose interest when they immediately saw a name which was unfamiliar.\u00a0 Most know who LBJ is, few know of Caro\u2026though the latter is a pretty remarkable fella!<\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to writing history, Robert Caro is a giant among men.\u00a0 This past year, Caro released the fourth installment of his projected five-volume biography of the 36th president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson. Caro has devoted nearly 40 years researching and writing The Years of Lyndon Johnson, and he does not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jesus","category-spiritual-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5728"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5731,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728\/revisions\/5731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}